IRIN Asia | BANGLADESH: Chittagong rights violations continue, says UN | Bangladesh | Human Rights

21.10.11

IRIN Asia | BANGLADESH: Chittagong rights violations continue, says UN | Bangladesh | Human Rights: DHAKA, 28 April 2011 (IRIN) - The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord has yet to be fully implemented, with human rights violations continuing more than a decade after it was signed in December 1997 says the UN.

The accord ended a 25-year low-intensity guerrilla war between 11 indigenous groups (Jumma) and the government and was intended to establish self-governance in this southeastern part of Bangladesh, home to half a million people.

However, a recent study by UN Rapporteur Lars-Anders Baer found an extensive military presence and ongoing land disputes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in 2010.

"When the idea of the study was presented to the UN's Economic and Social Council, the Bangladesh delegation... argued that there were no 'indigenous' people in Bangladesh. This was a surprise," he told IRIN.